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Has the current global, economic recession negative implications for the social security in developing societies. And if so, how can this be countered? The speakers of the evening will give their views on the developments and ideas in their countries and on how major donors like the European Union could be of help.

• How are EU (or other major donors) and developing countries related?
• What do developing countries and their inhabitants need most importantly?
• Which conditions are attached to development aid?
• Are there different approaches by different actors/donors?
• How are people in India and Kenya affected?
• Have relations to major donors (mostly EU) changed or will they change?
• Is development aid outdated?

Development of Humane Action (DHAN) Foundation, a professional development organisation, was initiated on October 2, 1997. It has been incorporated as a Trust under the Indian Trusts Act (1882). The Trust has been promoted with the objective of bringing highly motivated and educated young women and men to the development sector. They would work on bringing out new innovations in rural development and for upscaling development interventions to eradicate poverty in vast areas of the country. More...

Mr. Reginald Maudlin Nalugala is currently pursuing a PhD in Development Economics, Faith and Poverty: Challenges and solutions to Poverty situation in Kenya, at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford UK-supervised by Professor Deryke Belshaw, Oxford, UEA, OCDR; Expert in Development Economics and faith.

Background

The economic crisis, which was released by the breakdown of the banking system in the leading industrial countries, hits the developing countries most severely. As a result, the G-20 have committed themselves to a $ 1.1 trillion support package for developing countries to prevent political and social instability. This massive increase of development aid expenditures raises the question about the way the money is spent in development countries. Valuable insights can be provided by our experts from Kenya, a developing country, and India, a G-20 state, about the methods and fruitfulness of development aid in their respective countries. In the specific context of the recent economic crisis, it is thus legitimate to ask how political and social stability can be attained. From this can be inferred whether the existing relationship between developing countries and major donors such as the EU is appropriate. Questions arise in how far the EU achieves its aim to secure aspects such as political stability, democracy, the rule of law, and social security, in developing countries. It is also up to debate whether development aid as such is an appropriate means to attain growth in developing countries.

The debate aims at providing an interactive environment in which experts and audience share their views on development aid in times of crises. In the beginning, a provocative statement is given by the moderator in order to elucidate the audience’s opinion. Its views will be collected by the moderator and be stated at the end of the debate in order to find out what has been learned in the debate. In addition, two successive rounds of interaction will look at the relation of developed states (donors) and developing countries (recipients). Therefore, the two experts can add valuable and relevant insights with respect to the countries of Kenya and India. Another topic is the impact of the current economic crises on this relation as well as the developing countries in general. It is increasingly important to debate about the general role of development aid while other measures, especially in times of crises, seem to be more appropriate in order to ensure that developing countries are protected from falling even further behind.